It is a difficult process to ascertain what market center is currently performing at the highest quality level. It is important to the customer that any stock transaction occurs in the most efficient manner possible so that the stock is sold as close as possible to the quoted price, or better, in the shortest period of time. For quality customer service it is desirable to be warned if the market center is statistically below expectations and re-route the stock transaction if the underperformance of the market center is significant.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to always ascertain which market center can provide the customer with the best possible results since a number of factors affect the total quality of the securities transaction. For example, the securities transaction may be executed in a very short period of time but the sales price may be significantly below the quoted price. Therefore, it is important to be able to analyze the performance of a market center in real time to attempt to not only meet the customer's expectations but exceed them.
Therefore, there is a significant need to evaluate market center performance, in real time, for a plurality of criteria. Moreover, it would be very valuable to be able to focus on problem areas with a combined index that provides a single numerical indication regarding overall market center performance. The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.